HCM City, January 21 (VNA) - T he European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham) in Vietnam has committed to intensifying its activities in 2016, in order to boost investment and trade links between Vietnamese businesses and those from the European Union (EU) member states.

According to Chairwoman of EuroCham in Vietnam Nicola Connolly, her agency will review its action programmes, making them more suited with key upgrades in Vietnam-EU economic relations, especially the signing of the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement.

It will coordinate with the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lay a foundation for a Vietnam-EU trade and investment partnership, focusing on communication campaigns and meetings between relevant agencies and businesses from the two sides, Nicola said.

Apart from publishing the White Book on Vietnam’s trade and investment, and arranging dialogues with Vietnamese authorised agencies, EuroCham will also enhance projects to support EU small and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in enquiring about issues related to intellectual property rights in the Southeast Asian region, green business growth, and conducting a survey of the business climate index.

These aim to assist Vietnamese and EU firms to further bolster their production and business activities.

EuroCham, the representative for businesses from 28 EU member nations operating in Vietnam, serves as an important bridge connecting the Vietnamese business community with the union.

The EU is the sixth largest foreign investor in Vietnam. Over the past decade, bilateral trade increased by 200 percent, reaching to about 28 billion EUR in the end of 2015. Meanwhile, Vietnam is the fourth biggest trade partner of the union in the ASEAN./.